Ancient Jewish and Christian Apocalypses:
Transfer of Knowledge and Genre Definition
The conference aims at discussing how the literary genre
“apocalypse” promoted specific domains of knowledge in
Late Antiquity, such as eschatology, soteriology, angelology,
demonology, ecclesiology, ethics and anthropology, and
how it influenced Jewish and Christian concepts of the
afterlife.
The colloquium is part of an ongoing research project that
will eventually result in the publication of a new translation
and commentary on all ancient apocalypses. Fifty-five texts
have been selected based on the phenomenological definition of apocalyptic literature introduced by John J. Collins
in 1979. These texts, composed up to the middle of the 8th
century CE, have been distributed among forty philologists,
historians, and theologians, who are examining them to
determine what types of knowledge they transmit and how
these types of knowledge are transformed by inclusion in
the genre “apocalypse”. The definition of the genre will
then be central to the conversation.
Collaborative Research Centre “Episteme in Motion:
Transfer of Knowledge from the Ancient World to the Early
Modern Period” (SFB 980)
Humboldt University Berlin
Department of Theology
Chair of Ancient Church History
Further information
www.antikes-christentum.de
Contact
Emiliano Fiori ([email protected])
Stefanie Rabe ([email protected])
In addition to keynote lectures by John J. Collins, Martha
Himmelfarb and Jane Baun, the conference will include
four sessions focusing on different research questions:
1. Defining the Genre
2. Mapping Jewish and Christian Traditions
3. Identifying Characteristics of Late Apocalypses
4. Transmission of Knowledge in Apocalyptic Literature.
Each participant will discuss his or her text in at least one
of the sessions, providing initial answers to the proposed
questions in a short talk. It is expected that a modified
definition of “apocalypse” and an inventory of the types of
knowledge reflected in early and late apocalyptic texts will
emerge by the end of the conference.
Front page: detail from Ms. neerl. 2290, fol. 93v ©akg-images
Ancient Jewish
and Christian Apocalypses
Transfer of Knowledge
and Genre Definition
International Conference, 14 – 15 November 2014
Friday, 14 November 2014
Heilig-Geist-Kapelle, Spandauer Straße 1, 10178 Berlin
09.00−09.15
Conference Opening and Welcome
First Panel: 09.15−13.00
Defining the Genre
Chair: Christoph Markschies
09.15−10.00 Keynote Lecture
John J. Collins (Yale Divinity School)
The Genre Apocalypse Reconsidered
10.00−10.30 Discussion
10.30−11.00 Short Papers
11.00−11.30 Coffee Break
11.30−12.00 Enrico Norelli (University of Geneva)
Why Did Early Believers in Jesus Write Apocalypses?
12.00−12.30 Emmanouela Grypeou
(Humboldt University, Berlin)
Talking Skulls: On Some Personal Accounts on Afterlife and Their Place in Apocalyptic Literature
12.30−13.00 Short Papers
13.00−14.00 Lunch
14.00−14.30 Coffee
16.45−17.15 Johannes Reinhart (University of Vienna)
The Slavonic Apocalypse of Abraham
17.15−17.45 Bernd J. Diebner (University of Heidelberg)
Is It Legitimate to Consider the Book of Ezekiel as Apocalyptic Literature?
17.45−18.15 Break
14.30−15.15 Keynote Lecture
Martha Himmelfarb (Princeton University)
Eschatology and Empire: A Parting of the Ways for Jewish and Christian Apocalypses?
15.15−15.45 Discussion
15.45−16.15 Short Papers
16.15−16.45 Coffee Break
14.30−15.00 Emiliano Fiori (Humboldt University, Berlin)
Death and Judgment in the Apocalypse of Paul: Old Imagery and Monastic Reinvention
18.15−18.45 Short Papers
15.00−15.30 Daniele Tripaldi (University of Bologna)
Edfu and the Oriens: Transmission of Ancient Egyptian Lore in Two Coptic Apocalypses
Saturday, 15 November 2014
15.30−16.00 Short Papers
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Burgstraße 26,
Theologische Fakultät, Room 117
16.00−16.30 Coffee Break
Third Panel: 09.00−12.45
Identifying Characteristics of Late Apocalypses
Chair: Emiliano Fiori
17.00−18.00 Concluding Remarks
Christoph Markschies (Humboldt
University, Berlin)
09.00−09.45 Keynote Lecture
Jane Baun (University of Oxford)
“Forth Out of His Treasure Things New and
Things Old” (Matthew 13:52): Knowledge
Transfer between Late Antique and Medieval
Apocalypses in the Byzantine Sphere
09.45−10.15 Discussion
10.15−10.45 Short Papers
10.45−11.15 Coffee Break
Second Panel: 14.30−18.45
Mapping Jewish and Christian Traditions
Chair: Florentina Badalanova-Geller
Fourth Panel: 14.30−18.00
Transmission of Knowledge in Apocalyptic Literature
Chair: Jens Schröter
11.15−11.45 Lutz Greisiger (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Some Ethno- and Geographical Eschata from 7th Century Middle-Eastern Apocalyptic Narratives in Latin Sources
11.45−12.15 John Carey (University of Cork)
The Concealment and Disclosure of Knowledge in
the Old Irish In Tenga Bithnua
12.15−12.45 Short Papers
12.45−14.00 Lunch
14.00−14.30 Coffee
16.30−17.00 Short Papers
Short papers will be delivered by
Florentina Badalanova-Geller (Berlin)
Cordula Bandt (Berlin)
Alessandro Bausi (Hamburg)
Klaus Berger (Heidelberg)
Peter Busch (Heidelberg)
Jan Dochhorn (Aarhus)
Lutz Doering (Münster)
Judith Hartenstein (Koblenz-Landau)
Uta Heil (Erlangen-Nürnberg)
Andreas Heiser (Ewersbach)
Matthias Henze (Houston)
Nestor Kavvadas (Tübingen)
Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer (Aberdeen)
Julian Petkov (Heidelberg)
Karl Pinggéra (Marburg)
Uwe-Karsten Plisch (Berlin)
Jens Schröter (Berlin)
Loren Stuckenbruck (München)
Harald Suermann (Bonn)
Claudia Tiersch (Berlin)
Emanuela Valeriani (Rome)
Vadim Vitkowsky (Berlin)
Gregor Wurst (Augsburg)
Claudio Zamagni (Geneva)